The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Lonicera caerulea ssp. emphyllocalyx and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Kaido’. ‘Kaido’ is a new cultivar of Japanese blue honeysuckle berry, also known as Japanese haskap, a plant grown for its fruit that is marketed as fresh fruit, dried fruit and processed food products.
The new Invention arose from an ongoing controlled breeding program in Corvallis, Oreg. that commenced with the planting of seeds collected in 2000 from several berry farms in Hokkaido, Japan. The objectives of the breeding program are to develop superior cultivars of this early ripening berry plant that could be grown in moderate to colder climates combined with an upright plant habit and fruit that were large in size, attractive, firm, easy to pick with a medium strong attachment of the berry to the stem, a range of fruit maturity spreading throughout the harvest season, good tasting, and with a high yield rate.
This new Japanese haskap cultivar, ‘Kaido’, arose from seed collected from open pollination of an unnamed and unpatented Japanese haskap plant from the Inventor's breeding program designated as “#22-64”. ‘Kaido’ was selected in Corvallis, Oreg. as a single unique plant in 2007 from the population of resulting seedlings.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar was first accomplished by the Inventor by hardwood stem cuttings in 2008 in Corvallis, Oreg. Asexual propagation by hardwood and softwood cuttings has determined that the characteristics of the new cultivar are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.